jfunk

Alrighty, Well, I’ve grown up living in the woods. It’s been a blast. During summer I love watching the wind blow all the tree around. The sound they make is priceless and gives me some sort of peace of mind. However… when fall comes, we get a zillion leaves and little pine needles. Not to mention, there are bugs EVERYWHERE! We find ants in our house almost every year and have to lay poison out. But.. live in the woods at least once. It’s so peaceful – especially at night and in the winter.

Yeah, people think hacking into computers are cool. I’ll tell you – it sure can be an adernline rush. I realize that computers are becoming more and more vulernable every single day (especially with Windows still being the primary operating system), however, in recent years corperations and consumers are becoming smarter and are making hacking more difficult. With the EXPLOSION of home firewalls and routers, trojans are becoming a thing of the past. Now the big thing is to try to overflow these firewalls and devices to let the hackers in (like the star wars “indestructable” deathstar).

Everyone wants to hack just so they can call themselves a hacker. Let me tell you something. Real hackers are those that laugh just reading posts like these and won’t even make it publicly known that they are hackers. Instead of speaking in English, these guys speak in Assembly, Decompilers, and Unix. In my humble opinion, real hackers are those that never really cared about hacking or cracking – but simply do it because they can.

Seriously.. stop trying to be cool, go to school and learn how to program computers, and before you know it you’ll know how to ‘hack.’

I actually got started back in 7th grade at a local dance. I talked to dj’s and asked them about their sound system and how it worked. The next day, I helped them set up for a wedding. I became trained and employed with them for two years—that is until they stopped paying and calling me. Some might call it luck, but I call it fate – about 2 months ago, a friend of mine from church is dating a DJ. We hooked up and now her boyfriend and I are forming our own company.

I see some people ask, “How do I get started?” First off, listen to music. You not going to be a good dj if you don’t know music. I grew up listening to John Garabeedian’s Open House Party every Saturday and Sunday —especially listening to the mixes. You can do the same. Listen to some of the remixes and even a lot of the songs. Remember: most songs work like this:

Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, [Verse 3, Chorus] Bridge, Chorus.

On your computer, google “Audacity.” This is a free audio editor. Start taking some of your favorite songs, cut out one or two of the verses, and blend it with a verse from another song. If you want to be really creative, try to either change the tempo of the songs so they match OR find two songs that play at the same speed.

Another thing you can do: When you listen to music, start thinking about which songs sound good together. You’ll find that some songs go really well together, and some don’t. This is the basis of DJing. What to play and when.

I hate to rag on and on, but here are some things I learned while DJing:

1. Take Requests. If you don’t take request, the people won’t like you and it gives yourself a bad vibe. Remember: just because people give you requests doesn’t mean you have to play them. Some people get really mean and “in you face” if you don’t play their song. Don’t let them hassle you and don’t give in. You know when to play it or blend it in – they don’t. Not to mention, you’re the one getting paid, not them.

2. You are the entertainment. You job as a DJ isn’t to just play one song after the other and make a nice fade in between them. You job is to keep the people happy and entertained. You could play mini-games or play group songs (like the cha-cha slide or swing songs to give the crowd something different). Regardless of how you do it, if they arn’t having fun, you won’t be either.

3. People don’t like what they don’t know. If you play some hardcore techno song that most people haven’t heard before, your reputation goes down that much more. People want to dance and to escape from their daily life. They can’t do that if they don’t know what they’re listening to. Now, in a club setting, this doesn’t really apply. In that kind of a situation, you focus on the rhythms and beats. Keep the beat and the people moving.

4. DO NOT just play one genre of music! If you want to be a good DJ, don’t just play 80’s music. MIX IT UP! When I DJ school dances (which is what I primarly do), I’ll play a request like Beyonce’s Check On It then play something a little bit older after that – like Crazytown’s Butterfly or Nelly’s Hot In Herre. In fact, at my last dance this last weekend, I played some Wild Cherry right after a Bubba Sparxxx Song. The crowd loved it!

5. KNOW your crowd. Everybody likes or prefers a certain kind of music. These tastes can change from one town to the one next door. The key to the whole thing is knowing what your the majority of your crowd likes. In the beginning of the dance, start playing different kinds of music. Play an older rap song, then a newer pop song. Maybe a classic rock song or a country song. See what kinds of music they like the best and play more songs from that area of music.

6. Have fun. If you’re not having fun, your crowd will notice. Believe me, no one likes an unhappy DJ. If you don’t have fun DJing or don’t really enjoy the crowds, you definately should not be a DJ. If you are those things, enjoy it. Have fun and share your experiences with other DJs. We all have stories to tell about our “disasters” or you-will-never-believe-this-happened kind of stories.

I hope this helps to all that read this. I’m still learning how to DJ every single day. Keep in mind that I’m not some 40 or 50 year old veteran DJ. I’ve only been doing this for 3 & 1/2 years now. These are the things I’ve learned that made me more successful. In good time, you’ll be comfortable too and hopefully can enjoy it as much as I can.

Best of luck to all!

—Jeff
Michigan